HANOI - Vietnam will officially recognise the southern branch of the Protestant Evangelical Church after the church passes its charter and elects an executive board at a conference due to end on Friday, but the government must also approve the charter, an official said.
"The state has permitted the church to hold its conference and will grant recognition after approving its charter," said the official from the Government Board for Religious Affairs, who did not want to be identified.
Official media said the conference in Ho Chi Minh City, which began on Thursday, would discuss "the orientation and plan for religious practice and regulations for the Church's operations under the guideline "Living the gospel amidst the nation."
It comes ahead of a meeting of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington on February 13, which will consider whether Washington should consider sanctions to press Hanoi to improve its rights record.
In particular the meeting in Washington will consider what effect giving Normal Trade Relations status to Hanoi under the terms of a landmark bilateral trade accord, signed last year but yet to be ratified by Congress, would have on religious freedoms.
The Nhan Dan (People) newspaper said the church would elect an executive board and adopt a charter "respecting national tradition and social life in conformity with Viet Nam's Constitution and laws."
The conference, the first of the southern Evangelical Church since the Vietnam War, was attended by 482 dignitaries and believers, 278 guests, as well as senior officials from the Board for Religious Affairs and the Vietnam Fatherland Front -- the ruling Communist Party's mass organisation.
Nhan Dan quoted Le Quang Vinh, head of the religious affairs board, as saying the state "understands and respects the aspirations of Protestant dignitaries and believers" and urged them to contribute to national unity.
Some Protestants believe official recognition will be a positive step that will ease harassment of believers. Others dismissed the meeting as an attempt by authorities to bring more Protestants under control.
Especially critical are pastors of small Protestant "house churches," whose congregations make up the bulk of Vietnam's 700,000 or more Protestants and are not represented at the meeting.
House churches have been viewed with suspicion by the communist authorities, not least because they are difficult to control and have taken strong root in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities of questionable loyalty to Hanoi.
These include two central highland coffee growing provinces, Daklak and Gia Lai, scene of widespread protests in recent days.
03:35 02-09-01
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